What do you think of Tom Bergeron’s new idea to combat the TV ratings game and keep viewers interested?

It’s still a Top 10 hit, but this season ABC’s Dancing With the Stars is down nearly 14 percent from last fall, to an average of 18 million viewers. Host Tom Bergeron has a suggestion to keep viewers interested: Only air the show once a year, rather than in both fall and spring.

“One season a year works very well for American Idol,” says Bergeron, who thinks the longer wait creates more viewer anticipation. “I certainly think that’s one of the things that should be considered going forward. I would be looking at the spring season very carefully.”

More at TV Guide. Be sure to tell us your thoughts in the comments section and place your vote in our new poll.

My thoughts? NO! Tom, are you crazy? I love Dancing With The Stars and I love having two seasons!! The ratings are only down because it’s football season. So what if one or a few shows are at the top of the Fall ratings. It doesn’t mean anything needs to be changed. :(

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.

Remember when I said the judges were using a good bit of hyperbole last week?? Well, they’re at it again – mainly directed at Hope and JR. They were throwing out undeserved superlatives left and right.

JR is, without question, the best dancer this season and he has the best story. I do think he will win and it will be deserved. But I don’t think he should be overscored any more than I think Hope should be. And both were tonight. A 60 for JR?? Ummmm….No. A 57 would have been fine and dandy – and reasonable. He had some of the same issues that Ricki did on his Jive, he just made it look slightly prettier – but not 6 points prettier. And Hope?? Well, after Maks’ past behavior, he’s pretty much dead to me. And that shouldn’t be taken out on Hope. But never in this universe does she get the same score as Ricki Lake UNLESS the judges are desperately trying to make sure that Nancy goes home and NOT Hope.

So, if Rob or Ricki goes home tomorrow night, the judges just better keep their traps shut. It’s on them. I don’t want to see any shock and awe on their faces – surely they aren’t that stupid any more?? Oh wait….they gave Hope a 27. :::rolls eyes::: Clearly they ARE that stupid. Yes, it was Hopes best night of the competition. But she is not either Ricki or Rob’s equal. Not even close. And personally, I think Maks should be fired and Teddy should take over. Rather tired of shitty behavior being rewarded. How very Hollywood.

Anyway, let’s look at the numbers.

The Judges Scores and Percentages

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

In part 2 of our interview posts, we get the dancers thoughts from what they discussed with Access Hollywood and ET. Good Morning America also interviewed Carson Kressley for what he thought of the dances. Louis Van Amstel also reviewed the show.

First up, Carson’s thoughts!! He says Len must have had a Prozac Smoothie for the mood he was in last night. He thinks J.R. and Karina are really taking over the lead now. Ricki is a real showman, but, she looked a little tired last night. Even still, she is a pro dancing out there and a definite contender. Carson loved Maks and Hope last night. It was the first time they looked like they were both having fun. He thinks Rob keeps improving and is going to make it to the final three. Nancy will most likely go home tonight because her underwear showed (what? 8O ) and she copied his cart wheel. LOL! Carson is in rare form as always.

Be sure to read Louis’ review on the night at ABC. He pretty much nails it again I think. I never thought I’d say this, but, I would be all for having Louis replacing or being added to the judges panel, would you? Below is his overall opinion on the night;

Overall: What a great night. Every couple stepped up to the plate and tonight was such a great, classic “Dancing With the Stars” night, full of inspiration and fun dancing. That’s the reason why so many people fell in love with the show.

It’s very clear to me the top two is between Ricki and J.R. After tonight, Ricki will have to up her game. I’m worried for Nancy to survive tomorrow’s elimination, and both Rob and Hope have to show more energy in order to make it to the final. Both can take that third spot but, having said that, it ain’t over for Nancy yet, because we don’t know how you guys voted!

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.

What a night…the best of the season in many of our opinions (refer to Courtney’s new Power Rankings Post.)!! Less drama and the focus was more on good dancing! George Pennacchio of On The Red Carpet was impressed too. He was there to interview all the remaining couples after their dances for what they thought. He also asks what they hope they will accomplish if they get to come back another week.

It’s the “Final lap of the Nascar”, Karina says when asked what is left for these two after their perfect scores last night. J.R. says he owes the “tens” to Karina. Karina says their dances were like an “out of body experience” and everything came together.

Maks and Hope are happy with last night’s outcome. They joke of how Hope is an “athlete” and her legs are still tired and hurt. Maks says, “Mission accomplished” to Hope recognizing that fact. They go through the physical toll dancing on this show can have on a person. They also speak of how there is something inside Hope that responds positively to all the pressure. The more pressure, the more she works and wants to do better.

Roses were thrown to Ricki and Derek like in an ice skating competition last night. It’s no wonder. George thought their first dance showed a side to Ricki he had never seen before. She loved the dance and was doing it for her Grandmother. It was also fun falling in love with Derek. Ricki gets a little down mentioning her mistakes and wish she had done better, but, Derek is proud. He highlighted how they received a “10” and how memorable their first dance will be to him.

Robe and Cheryl feel like they’ve set out what they accomplished by improving every week. Cheryl is proud of Rob for listening to her and really working hard. If they make it tonight, they plan to keep working hard on all the things the judges advised of them. Cheryl is nervous about the results tonight.

George tells Nancy he doesn’t think Len realizes Cinderella has a fairy tale ending. Tristan says, “It’s not over yet”. No matter what happens, Nancy is just happy to have danced. Tristan is happy because their dances were an improvement from last week. George talks of how they received a standing ovation. Tristan says that’s what dancing is for and all about.

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.

Let me just get it off my chest first: the judges are on crack. Plain & simple. And sometimes, I like the kind of crack they’re smoking…other times, I don’t. Tonight was a bit of both.

I don’t think the instant jive really benefited anyone except JR, and even though everyone else really struggled, I don’t think it really & truly screwed anyone except Nancy – but then again, the judges seemed hellbent on screwing her over after scoring her first dance, so I can’t really say I was surprised. Oh well…on with it…

1.) JR & Karina – I’m sure many of you saw me gushing about these two on Twitter, and I have to say – both of their routines were my favorites of the night, as they were both good dances with great entertainment value. In fact, JR’s jive may have overtaken Kyle’s as my favorite instant dance ever. But I’m actually in agreement with a lot of you that they were not exactly worthy of not one, but TWO perfect 30’s. I think I saw a few timing issues in his waltz where his footwork got a bit wonky, and his jive felt a bit disjointed in a few spots – for which I’m actually going to blame Karina’s choreographic strategy, since the whole “choreograph in pieces and then put them together” method runs the risk of there not being enough transitions between sections. However, I will say this: with all of the overscoring going on tonight, is it really all that surprising that someone got a perfect score? I mean, if they’re suddenly giving Hope (who has gotten in the neighborhood of 24’s for most of the season) a 27, it kinda sets the bar high – not to say that it’s right or fair, but it does put them in the sticky situation of having to then go even higher on dances that are better…and I would daresay that JR & Karina were head & shoulders above Hope & Maks in both dances, so I guess 60 just doesn’t feel totally outrageous to me. Aaaaaanywho…since they really seem to have given another couple their walking papers, I think JR & Karina oughta be safe…for now. I’m fulling expecting backlash next week, so I’m warming up my voting finger!

2.) Hope & Maks – This is the portion of my post where I remind everyone that the power rankings are not my opinion of who did the best or who I like the most ;-) , but who I think has the most staying power. And this week, Hope & Maks seem to have quite a bit of staying power, with the scores they got. While her quickstep was a vast improvement from previous weeks (I still say her foxtrot was her best dance, though), I firmly believe that Hope deserved at least 2 points less than Rob, for the simple reason that Rob had the more difficult choreo and I thought he handled it more fluidly and with more skill than Hope did with her routine. I think 25 was probably about right for her jive, and it was a pleasant surprise to see her staying on-time and actually having fun – but man, she still looks like she just muscling her way through it. The catch-22 of jive is that it IS difficult & high-energy, but a well-done jive is supposed to look effortless & kinda “springy”. Hope looked like she was about to go all Bruce Lee on someone, with the force with which she was doing those flicks! Take it with a grain of salt, but compared to a very similar side-by-side section in JR & Karina’s routine, Hope looks amateurish, with the way she’s kicking her legs out with such force. But enough technique for now. I know there’s still quite a bit of buzz about these 2 after last week, so I daresay they’ll live to dance another week. Read more..

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble. Check out some of my other work at pureamericasgottalent.com!

On Good Morning America today, Melissa Rycroft reveals the weight-loss secrets behind Dancing With The Stars. It’s no wonder why so many of the celebrities lose weight when they burn 250 calories an hour while rehearsing 30+ hours a week. They owe the weight loss to the Dancing With The Stars diet as well. Very interesting!

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.

Heidi: This was like giving birth. Or what I would imagine giving birth was like if I had any children.

Award for the Celeb that Seems to Get Cooler & Cooler Despite His Initial Douchiness: Rob Kardashian

Courtney: Rob’s definitely come a long way since his initial assholiness during the first week – we’re getting all sorts of zingers out him these days! On relating to the The Addams Family: “Yeah, my family’s kinda kooky.” On showing off his “guns” in paso rehearsal: “I don’t carry weapons.” On the tutelage he received from Derek & Maks in said rehearsals: “Derek & Maks increased my sexual confidence!” Plus, he’s got a bum and he’s ok with it! I’m seriously starting to dig Rob – would be interesting to see what he pulls out of his hat for a freestyle, should he make the finale.

Heidi: He was a cornucopia of hilarious this past week – speaking of his bum, the entire segment about his bum from Bruno critiquing to Bruno telling Cheryl “It’s huge!!”, to them running up the stairs to David yelling “that’s a violation you were talking to Bruno!!” to the faux weepy confessional all about him bum?? F@#king hilarious!! OMG, didn’t even catch it all until I watched it again. :-)

Award for the Celeb Who We Wish Was Still Around Because He Was Becoming a Comic Genius: David Arquette

Courtney: “Dancing with the skeleton” FTW! Especially since he even cracked Brooke up to the point where she was even more flustered than usual :-P And then he (deliberately, I assume) got all wacky with his deck of cards during Monday night’s intros, just for shits & giggles. *sigh* I’m seriously gonna miss David!

Heidi: See above about the yelling about a violation. :-) But the dancing with the skeleton was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long damn time.

Award for Cleverest Production Bit of the Week: “DEAD….from Hollywood!!”

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble. Check out some of my other work at pureamericasgottalent.com!

Well, I wasn’t feeling particularly funny this week. More…weird than funny. :-) In Galleries like this one, if you click the picture and then click on it again in the new page, you can see the full size.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

So, in some wacky twist, all couples will be doing an instant Jive this week. I wish I knew why. I don’t think it truly benefits anyone other than JR – but it certainly is worse for Nancy and Hope. Theoretically. I think Ricki and JR will likely be fine – everything else is a toss up. :-)

Note: We don’t have any reason to believe that the Instant Jive is a “group” instant jive as Nancy said. She is the ONLY person saying that right now. Could be one, but we think not.

Rob/Cheryl – Quickstep (Song: Take on Me by Aha)
Dancing First
Phone: 1-800-868-3402

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

According to Enterprise News, four teens from Brockton, MA who overcame hardships and bullying in school by dancing will be performing on Dancing With The Stars November 15th in AT&T’s Spotlight performance. Below are some details….

BROCKTON — When twin brothers David and Jacob Guzman of Brockton started dance class at a young age, it was to stop them from causing trouble while their sister was in the studio.

But during 14 years in the Gold School Dance Art studio, the boys found their niche in dancing, long after their sister was gone from the program.

Now, their talent has been recognized by a national television program.

The Guzman twins, both 16; along with Kyle Scanlan, 17, and Matthew Gilmore, 15, will be performing live on ABC’s hit show, “Dancing with the Stars,” at 9 p.m. on Nov. 15. The piece is part of an AT&T Spotlight portion of the program.

The brothers are juniors at Brockton High School; Scanlan is a senior. Gilmore lives in Canton.

The four boys and their family members will be flying out to Los Angeles on Nov. 12.

“Being around L.A. and Hollywood, the boys are always going to remember this,” said Richard Guzman, the twins’ father and a math teacher at Brockton High School.

The brothers’ mother, Karen Guzman, agreed.

“We thought we’d be out of dance when our girls moved onto do other things,” Karen Guzman, an eight-year math teacher at Brockton High School, said. “But they kept asking, ‘When’s dance? When’s dance?’”

Rhee Gold, owner of the Gold School Dance of Brockton, made a YouTube series of dance videos featuring the four teens entitled “Male Voices.” The series includes six episodes, which included hip hop, ballet, contemporary jazz, and tap dancing.

“Male Voices” was recorded two years ago. Gold pitched it to ABC about one year ago, and a producer from the show viewed the videos and invited the boys to appear on the program.

“The episodes all talk about bullying, and how other kids would make fun of us for dancing,” David Guzman said.

You can read more on them here. Be sure to watch this “Male Voices” video which will give even further information and insight for why the producers picked them to dance. Too cool!!

Also, the winner for the Design A Dance Costume has been picked. Her name is Amanda Wolff. You can read all about the 22 year old at ABC Philadelphia. We’ll get to see what she created in the “Design A Dance” performance on November 15th. Below is a take of how excited she is….

She is understandably ecstatic about the win.

“It’s been quick,” said Amanda. “I’m still really excited, and I haven’t really gotten to think about it too much, but yeah, it’s awesome.”

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.